‘Saulful’ music from Askonas Holt artists!

Thursday evening sees the opening night of Handel’s ‘Saul’ at the Glyndebourne Festival featuring Sophie Bevan as Michal, Lucy Crowe as Merab, Iestyn Davies as David and Benjamin Hulett as High Priest/Abner/Amalekite/Doeg in a new production by the provocative Australian opera and theatre director, Barrie Kosky. Kosky “delves deep into this score of heart-breaking beauty and intensity to create an associative dreamscape, a Baroque nightmare world in which this mythic tale of a Lear-like mad king and his crumbling family unfolds”. Ivor Bolton conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

This production marks company debuts for Sophie Bevan and Benjamin Hulett. Lucy Crowe returns to Glyndebourne following her Michaela in ‘Carmen’ with the company earlier this summer, as well as previous successes in ‘The Fairy Queen’ and the title role in ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’. Iestyn Davies returns following acclaimed performances as the title role in Rinaldo and Ottone in Monteverdi’s ‘L’incoronazione di Poppea’.